Chocolates
by SerenaKo413
Summary: If it was something cute, Yokoi didn't actually mind watching. Or even playing along.


_'What is it today?'_ Yokoi wondered, sneaking a glance at the desk to her left between equations and sums. _'It's probably something oddly exciting li-'_

Her train of thought might as well have abruptly crashed into a cliff, for all her inner monologue was derailed. Because, well.

On her neighbouring desk, Seki had spread out a tray. To the right of his desk, he had piping bags used for icing; pink, black, and white, neatly lined up and ready to be used. In his left hand, he held a small fan. Sitting on the tray were sweets, shaped like the heads of bears and bunnies and kittens…!

It was adorable! So adorable that Yokoi couldn't tear her eyes away!

For once, she didn't feel the urge to get him to be responsible and pay attention to class. Nor did she feel the persistent need to pay attention to her work herself. As long as she could witness the birth of adorable sweets, she would be content.

...was what she thought, right before Seki smiled that sadistic smile of his, and began decorating a bear with pointed teeth, demonic eyes, and- were those bloodstains?

 _'Seki-kun!'_ Yokoi gritted her teeth together, twisting her pencil case to restrain her anger. ' _What are you doing?! You're ruining the appeal of animal-shaped sweets altogether! What's next, making the monster bear attack all the other animals?!'_

The thought of innocent bunnies and kittens fleeing from demonic bears almost brought tears to her eyes. She just couldn't let that happen!

Almost as if he read her mind, Seki glanced over just then. Seeing her furious expression, he smirked. He passed the icing pipes over, and Yokoi fumed.

' _That cocky bastard! This is a challenge!' She thought as she took the tray from him too. An aura of arrogance seemed to emanate from Seki, and it only made her angrier. 'I bet he thinks I won't be able to decorate it well at all! Well, I'll show him!'_

Yokoi began working on her new project with a fire that could outburn the sun. Seki helped out by fanning the sweets, making the piping dry quicker and neater. This also had the unintentional (or maybe not, since it was Seki) effect of making the teacher ignore Yokoi. After all, the Yokoi who had seemed so distracted recently because of something at home was hunched over her desk, flipping through pages so fast her hair was flying and writing so quickly that her pencil was a blur. How could he interrupt that?

Completely oblivious to her teacher's newfound admiration of her work ethic, Yokoi grinned brightly, finishing the chocolates with circular blushes on everyone's cheeks. She let go of her piping bag, clasping her hands together as she cooed over the animal's adorable faces and smiles!

A glance to her left revealed that even Seki was impressed, a tiny, tiny grin on his face as he looked in her direction. Yokoi's grin was upgraded to a full-on beam at the sight. And then he took the sweets from her.

The proud, gleaming smile on her face lasted for a second, before she was filled with horror, anger, and a lot of indignation.

' _How could he?! I worked so hard on them, and now what are you going to do to them, Seki-kun!?'_

Keeping her eyes on the one demonic bear he made, Yokoi watched. He wore gloves and moved slowly, picking up a bunny and examining her from every angle possible. (Yokoi had put her heart and soul into creating that bunny's face. Of course Yokoi had the right to say that this bunny was a girl.) And then, ever so carefully, Seki tapped the bunny's eye, carefully inspecting his fingertip afterward.

' _Is it… a physical examination? He's pretending to be a doctor?'_ Yokoi wondered, before her eyes drifted to the tray of animals. ' _Wait! You're gonna treat all of them?! Isn't that too much for one doctor?! Is the hospital in disarray?! Are you low on employees?!'_

The white-haired girl fretted and fretted, almost missing the moment when Seki took out a box from his bag. And another, and another. He glared at all of them, concentrating fiercely.

' _Are those supposed to be… rooms?'_ Yokoi looked closer, and then gasped. _'The interiors of those boxes- they're decorated! What cute wallpapers!'_

And then Seki took out a molded plastic holder and loaded the animals into them.

' _Ah… that's the kind of holder you see in high class chocolate boxes…'_ Yokoi realized. ' _They're going to be eaten…'_ She tried to not cry at the thought. Even though it was so, so sad.

Seki, however, seemed distraught. He held his head in his hands, contorting oddly in his attempts to think and focus.

 _'Is it really that hard…?'_ Yokoi thought _. 'Box A has a simple, dependable rectangular shape. It's reliable and neat and clean, and you can't go wrong with the pink-on-white polka dots inside. It's easily the safest choice.'_

Her brow creased as another thought came to mind.

 _'But… Box B has a smaller, yet taller square shape. It gives it a certain cute look, but the brown, white, and pink diagonal stripes give it a certain sense of maturity! It's a beautiful contrast! And Box C is circular! You have to be creative to find a way to make the plastic holder fit in there! Innovation and creativity are this box's defining traits, giving it a unique appeal you won't find anywhere else! The swirling, delicate patterns on the inside are a testament to that!'_

Yokoi bit her thumb, glaring at the boxes just as Seki was.

' _It's a difficult choice! It really is difficult!'_

However, she weighed her options, carefully considered how the animals would look in each box, and came to a choice. And she knew it was the right one, she knew it in her heart, it was almost as if her entire being was confident with her answer. Almost as if he sensed her resolve, Seki looked to her in that moment.

With a certain sagacity, Yokoi pointed at Box B. Seki nodded seriously, putting away the other two and putting the sweets inside the box.

Yokoi was slightly surprised that her neighbour had listened to her opinion, but a thought came to her. He had made the sweets, she decorated them. He prepared the options, she narrowed it down to the one they would use. It almost sounded like…!

She almost slammed a palm on her desk when she saw it. The game today was that they were business partners at a bakery, trying to figure out how to package their latest product! That was why he was looking to her for help!

Yokoi couldn't help herself from smiling. Cute things were bound to get her love and adoration, so if Seki was preserving them instead of torturing them, she was glad to play along!

Speaking of, Seki had discreetly tapped her with a pencil, grabbing her attention. She refocused on him, watching the boy pull out a lid and different wrapping paper. He didn't bother examining them, instead presenting to her with an unwavering faith that kinda made her heart twinge a little.

(It was only because she was so invested in their little business partners set-up. The bond between friends who learned to work together and compliment each other in the weirdest of ways was touching no matter what, after all.)

Yokoi nodded, communicating a sense of 'leave it to me!' without actually speaking.

Option A had too many sparkles to be practical. She could already imagine customers complaining about how their hands glittered after opening their box, so she set that one aside. Option B was too garish, too many bright colours clashing and almost making it a pain to look at.

But Option C… Option C was white, with pink and red hearts around the edges, just light enough to not clash with the bright white. It would match well with the interior walls, too, but it was _missing_ a certain something…

Seki got her attention by dangling something in front of her face. Specifically, a thin, brown ribbon.

' _That's it! Seki-kun, you're a genius!'_

The brown would finish off the box magnificently, finishing off the colour scheme without overpowering it! On top of that, any box with a ribbon on top seemed more complete!

Nodding enthusiastically, Yokoi handed Option C to him, pressing the hand holding the brown ribbon on top of the wrapping paper. Understanding immediately, Seki began to work his magic, wrapping the box and tying it without anyone noticing at all.

They both shared an excited fist pump at how professional and appealing the box seemed, before Seki pulled out various writing utensils and a sheet of stickers.

' _Of course! We need some way of displaying the price!'_

Was what she thought, before Seki took a simple tag with a thin pink line for a border and slapped it next to the ribbon.

' _Don't put it there!' _Yokoi protested mentally _. 'What about all the people scrambling for romantic gifts?! They might rip off the wrapping trying to take it off in an attempt to make it seem handmade, and make it all worse! It might match the colours, but it's throwing everything off!'_

Taking an ink pen, Seki began writing in flowery letters. Yokoi was almost shocked to tears when she saw what he wrote.

Instead of an outrageous price tag or his signature… signature, Seki had written a cute, simple name.

' _Yokoi's chocolates for you!_ ' followed by a red heart.

' _No way, no way, no way! The brand is named after me?! Isn't a business partner type relationship about dividing up the work equally?! Or maybe, maybe it's supposed to be a tribute to your partner or something!?'_ She waved away those thoughts, thinking about it more practically. _'No, no, no, the name is simple and friendly, almost like they're a message from the cute girl living next door. The heart makes it extra affectionate, and it's easier to imagine a girl like me being affectionate than a guy like Seki, right? I mean, he almost never talks! The name was just chosen to invoke that kind of approachable image! In short, it's just a front!'_

Despite that, she had to respect Seki for coming up with it. He had a certain knack for imagining big ideas and bringing them to life, with all the skills that implied. She was certainly lucky to be working together with him on something like that rather than acting as his business rival.

Filled with a sudden need to show her appreciation for the boy beside her, she stuck out her hand. Seki eyed her for a second, before grinning and shaking her hand in return. They exchanged a court nod, and then the bell for the end of class rang.

By the end of the day, everyone knew about how Seki was carrying around Valentine's chocolates from Yokoi, unable to be reminded of it without a widening grin and sparkling eyes.

Everyone, except for Yokoi herself.


End file.
